


I deras dvalande sinnen skall de vandra, skall de fånga, skall de slå sig fri.

by HoldOnImConfused



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Additional characters may be added - Freeform, Alternate Universe - No Zombie Apocalypse, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Falling In Love, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Motorcycles, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Partnership, Past Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Past Child Abuse, Past Lori Grimes/Rick Grimes, Protective Daryl Dixon, Sophia will kick your ass, Warnings May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:07:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23068240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HoldOnImConfused/pseuds/HoldOnImConfused
Summary: When Rick is assigned to take a new rookie under his wings, he never thought he’d be lucky enough to get such a diamond in the rough like Sophia Peletier. She had fierce green eyes, speaking of experience despite being so young and clearly fresh out of the academy, his initial thought of the brief first impression was; smart, sharp and not to be underestimated. Through her and her way of implementing him into her life, he gets to know her legal guardian, who’s raised her for years and although Rick never thought they’d get further than being able to tolerate one another, as he’s clearly hated, given time he may just find himself wrong.Or the one where Rick’s first day with his fresh rookie officer, is the day his life is threatened.
Relationships: Daryl Dixon/Rick Grimes
Comments: 3
Kudos: 25





	I deras dvalande sinnen skall de vandra, skall de fånga, skall de slå sig fri.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm somewhat back, poking around with word and making these, thankfully shorter additions to the fandom and I've enjoyed writing these last two days even though I have other ideas I would want to do but they're not playing nice with me. This one makes me eager tho! I don't know how long it'll be, but hopefully not too long but we'll see, writing the chapters will depend on my workload but it's not like there's a schedule to be excepted from me either, I don't do well with those. Anyways, our TWD family is a bit older in this AU which is exciting!
> 
> Alternative title I really wanted to use was "Bow legged lean ole shit", it stuck close to my heart as much as "damn fine bacon" did but in the end I thought I had to be a little serious at least, so instead, I decided to brainfuck everything and write my title in Swedish so... no hate.

There were a few things Rick had been excited for as he’d woken up that morning. First of all Carl’s late graduation party was set to happen later that week, specifically on Saturday at 5:30 PM order by time pessimist Lori. After three years away in Boston, wrapping up his education and packing up the rental one roomer he’d acquired when he’d gotten accepted, he was finally coming home. Rick hadn’t seen the little, or not so little, shit for over six months with the finals pulling most of the kid’s time. He felt old, reminiscing about his now fully grown son who used to be a little button plup with wobbly legs, disoriented arms and the wonders of the world shining through his eyes. He’d been fond of carrying that little bundle around, enjoyed how he used to grab at Rick’s jaw and gurgle a giggle, now though, Rick feared his back would pop and put him on the couch for a two week lockdown if he even attempted to, well, it would have to be piggy backing, his fully grown son. But that didn’t matter, he had missed the shit out of his son regardless, even with his every growing snarky and playful attitude with his supposedly respected father, Rick could question that, but he’d never question the fact that his son used it lovingly.

Then there were three things happening at the station, not only would he take a fresh rookie under his wings straight from the academy and let Shane terrorize one of his own for the coming years, but they were acquiring a new captain as their current Captain Green was retiring. They were to assemble together at _William’s Call_ , the local and official police pub at the eastern quarters of Atlanta, run by the siblings Sasha and Tyrese and home to the four adjoined precincts of the police department, to bid their farewells to their beloved Captain Green and of course, to welcome and get through the usual meet and greet with their new Captain Ford, joining them from DC. Rick was expecting the new cap to get the same question a couple of times through the evening, namely the one asking why of all places, coming from DC, would he accept a position in the scorching Atlanta, and he guessed he was quite curious himself about that. But at least he wouldn’t be the one asking it.

To top it all off, Dale had called him the day before and informed him that they’d finally completed the repairs, tuning and the basic maintenance of is fathers old -75 Triumph Trident that Rick had inherited at his passing. He’d loved that bike, his father used to drive him around when he was younger, less frequent as both of them had gotten older and none when Rick had entered high school. But his father had still gone on his rides, less so when the urge to chase the wind calmed through years until he stopped riding it altogether when Carl had been born and thus, it had sat in his garage collecting dust until he’d passed. Back then, when he’d gotten the keys from his mother as they cleaned out their old family home so she could move into a smaller apartment, it had started with just a little cough and worked fairly well for a few years when Rick indulged himself the time to enjoy a ride, before it one day wouldn’t even give a twitch of life.

Luckily, Rick had gotten acquainted with old man Dale through his time in the force, as the man took care of the damage caused to their patrol cruisers from daily use and the one time someone had broken into the garage. The old man had accepted the job without batting an eye, but they’d been short staffed and it wasn’t his usual patient, he’d said. But he had reassured Rick nonetheless that he would reach out to the people he knew if it was beyond his own knowledge and, from the sound of it, Rick believed the old man already had a few people in mind that he thought would be suitable for the task.

Pulling his boots on in the hallway that early morning for his shift he had smile on his face and he couldn’t help it, he was excited, ready for work, there was just one little bump he hadn’t been ready for and it wasn’t something ever would have expected.

* * *

“Rick Grimes?” The soft voice spoke with an eerie authority and confidence hiding in the tone and Rick automatically responded respectfully to it by turning his attention, full body around, toward the young woman before him, locking her eyes into his own. Medium height, dark blonde hair set in a tight ponytail that wasn’t too long, functional for the purpose of not getting in the way, Rick would dare think. She had fierce green eyes, speaking of experience despite being so young and clearly fresh out of the academy, his initial thought of the brief first impression was; smart, sharp and not to be underestimated. So he nodded politely, confirming his identity though he doubted she hadn’t already known exactly who he was, got the feeling she’d probably red through his entire file and so, he concluded her approach had to mean she was it, his rookie to be.

“Sophia Peletier reporting for duty Sir” She started, giving him the classic salute and returned the favor. It wasn’t everyone that got lucky with their rookies, but Rick thought he must have been one of those exceptions, getting a diamond in the rough like this that he didn’t doubt could take care of herself and strangely, he felt assured he could entrust his back to her sooner than he would have thought.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. We’re scheduled for patrol right off the bat, if you don’t mind my informal language.” Rick maintained the conversation, holding his hand out for a brief shake. At least she’d jumped him in the break room and not the hallway or his desk, which meant he’d managed to grab himself his pre-shift coffee as they were heading out in about twenty minutes. She took his hand and shook it.

“Not at all sir, in fact, you still sound very formal compared to what I’m used to.” She stated, revealing a small smile hiding in the corner of her lips, perhaps she even thought he was a little innocent thinking his choice of words would be informal and, he guessed he didn’t really want to know what her _used to_ meant.

“All is good then, I assume you’ve already showed yourself around?” He asked as she reached for a mug of her own, nodding at his question as she filled it to a half full.

“Yes sir, first thing I did. I’ve met and spoken to Officer Walsh, Raleigh, Rhee and lt Jones. I was provided my service equipment and badge by administrator Porter along with a newfound sense of patience.” She said, putting the pot back into its placer. Was that a joke, it had to be right, considering Eugene was in the same sentence and Rick was chuckling before he knew it, Eugene was a different nut to get used to and most people never did and opted to turn their ears off when he started talking too much.

“Sir, may I be frank?” She asked and Rick cleared his throat, watched her move the mug in small circles, causing a stirring effect of the content, she was still thinking about it and he thought that even if he said yes, she wasn’t entirely sure it would be appropriate to ask yet.

“I don’t mind and you can call me Rick, I don’t mind that either.” He motioned for them to sit and she followed along to the closest table, they had a few minutes before heading out to prepare their cruiser anyway and if they were going to work closely together, a moment of bonding honesty could be useful.

“Yes sir, I mean, Rick. “ She started, correcting herself and he saw her go through the process of making that correction permanent enough to hopefully stick until the next time.

“I have a request.” She then continued, now sipping the coffee as if to give herself more time, eyes dead on Rick to watch for any reaction that would give her a reason to refrain from asking in the end. It peaked his interest, whatever it could be, seeing how she was so cautiously considering it to be, possibly out of place, for a subordinate to ask of a superior. He nodded shortly nevertheless.

“I’d like to, not to sound too straight forward, invite you over for dinner, perhaps this Friday if you have time? As a get to know each other additionally from work and understanding the necessity of the strong bond of trust that builds between partners, I’d like to put you in the category of family and so, I thought a dinner would be an okay start.” It was the first sign of any nervousness in this girl he’d seen, voicing her invitation with her fingers tracing the handle of the mug. A brand new station straight from education and basic training, a room full of officers and he’d seen nothing like nervousness shaking her at those, which, normally would make any new addition to the force nervous. Perhaps this invitation was only causing her nervousness because it was the one thing that couldn’t be studied through books.

“Dinner sounds nice, it’s not a bad idea actually. My old partner and I used to do that all the time, we still do and probably will, even when we’ve partnered with a rookie each.” Rick replied and the pin-drop tension that had nestled itself discreetly into the topic seemed to dissolve and she gave a small smile.

“You’re also expected to be at Wiliam’s tonight yeah?” Rick continued and she confirmed, even the rookies had been invited to the farewell and welcoming party, wasn’t much of a surprise there but you never knew when they’d been registered into their law record that very same week.

“I heard Captain Green was a great man.” She added thoughtfully, perhaps even sounding a little disappointed she wouldn’t get to serve under his leadership, if that was it she must have heard a lot of good things about him and Rick would know they were all true too.

“He is, stuck with us longer than he had intended, I know he wanted to retire two years ago but, the cases we had active kept him and then there was the matter of finding a replacement. Captain Ford that will be replaced by him was approved by Green himself, said he’s a bit rough around the edges but he’ll do a fine job and not mess around with his work, but he couldn’t say as much for his mouth. Still, apparently, the rumors are; Green had Ford sign a binding document that he’d mind his tongue on press conferences and public engagement.” Well, they were rumors so most likely not true, but they could be and it had whispered across the station and into other ones faster than any rumor before so that left everyone wondering that perhaps, their new captain would be as interesting as this binding document made him out to be, which, Sophia seemed to have a similar thought regarding.

“At least I will have the honor to have met him, that’s something to hold on to. I’m curious to meet Ford of course, if those rumors are true it’s going to be quite amusing.” She’d said, back to drinking her coffee. On one hand he met the mature mentality to respect the old Captain, saying what she had and on the other, he was shown a small part of her young mind that was curious in a good way, regarding Ford’s supposed behavior. All the while she didn’t look like she thought it’d be a problem for her, mostly because she carried the smile like she sensed some familiarity in the contents of the topic.

“You’re going to be a lot different to work with than Shane, I can tell that much.” Rick said, a little teasing and quite amused, but at least he didn’t have to send Shane fifteen texts about everything wrong with his Rookie like his old partner had started doing and, to which, Rick had only replied; “ _Teach him how then.”_

“You look like you’ll live.” She chuckled, emptying the mug and nodded with her head, asking if they should get going and Rick swept the last of his own before they made their way outside. It didn’t take him long to yearn for the unit AC when the unforgiving summer outside hit them in the face and he verbally made a comment about it until his voice was cut, seemingly out of nowhere his back hit the wall of the building right next to the parking lot for their cruisers and he was having difficulties to breathe with the arm pinned against his throat. Who the fuck attacked anyone outside of a station anyway, was amazingly the only thing he thought of, hearing Sophia raising her voice in the background and eyes catching the sight of vicious menace staring right back at him. He managed to nudge the arm off a bit, get a few fingers beneath the skin packing hard muscle to push the arm off enough to get some air down into his lungs.

“Daryl stop it!” Oxygen made some words clearer at, could hear them better when his head didn’t pound as bad as the rapid hammering it had exploded into.

“This t’fucker?” The man had spoken, didn’t need to be more words than that to clearly drip in authentic thick Georgia accent, the push against Rick’s pull didn’t lessen any more for that and Rick had enough time to recall some of the features in front of him but not more than that. His eyes drew down to Sophia iron grip grabbing onto the arm pinning him, helping Rick to pull it further off, knuckles whitening as she meant business.

“Daryl. Stop.” She spoke coldly, stepping closer, couldn’t much get between them, but she did so to give herself more leverage for a straighter push.

“What, he ‘s ain’t he? ‘Tis bow legged lean ole shit’s gonna watch yer back?” The man had turned his head at that point, this was probably where Rick was supposed to have calculated the relationship further than just confirming the two of them knew each other. The man had turned his head to look at Sophia, like he expected some reply while Rick took in more of his looks. He was older, around his own age if not a little older, proof of minimal gray showing in his gruff stubble but had yet to reach his dark brown hair. He’d aged well despite the evidence of broken skin having healed, something with one of his eyes and shit, putting it all together Rick barely managed to voice his last name.

 _“Dixon.”_ Anything else he had to say died before he could get there.

“Dad, let him go.” Wait.. What the fuck.

There was an odd shrill that traveled through their.. unusual situation, like frozen time in which Rick recalled who it was that had pinned him to the wall, Dixon’s hadn’t exactly been discreet in their success as problem makers in Atlanta, their mug shots were one of those frequently showed a couple of years ago, and then the result of her words making everything come to a stop. It was still there, he could feel the muscles in the arm twitching in debate to continue, like it urged to do so but was restrained at the same time. Like she knew, she gave it enough time before she pulled at her grip again and the arm came with, releasing Rick before she shoved at Dixon’s shoulder, causing him to take a step back.

“Told ye not t’call me that.” He muttered bitterly but he never looked back at her after she’d shoved at him, eyes back to staring at Rick and strangely, Rick had the time to feel insulted of being called lean. Fine, he wasn’t body builder shape but he was fit for his age, he’d claim, try to, maybe he’d schedule some more reoccurring gym sessions.

“Well how else am I going to get you to fucking listen? What are you even doing here?” She’d said, the girl looking to know where to strike for it to hurt judging from the annoyed pull of Dixon’s lips, like he’d been busted straight out in the open and it didn’t sit well with him that she knew how to do it and yet, he seemed to have accepted she did.

“Forgot yer lunch.” He mumbled, and Sophia wasn’t discreet when she rolled her eyes, groaning almost, certainly different from the polite version of her that had greeted Rick inside the station, but at least that answered why she’d said that Rick was formal compared what she was used to, no shit if Daryl Dixon was her father.

“I told you this morning that I didn’t need any lunch with me and that I’d grab something, remember? Patrol duty, new partner which is my mentor, thanks for showing him some respect by the way.” She started with pointedly obvious sarcasm and annoyance.

“What, this one? He don’ look like much.” Daryl scoffed.

“I’ll have you know Rick Grimes is one of the best achieving officers in east Atlanta, good arrest rate, low incident damage and.. oh well, what’s the point, it’s not like you’re going to listen old man, you weren’t even supposed to meet like this.” At that, both men turned their heads toward her and she shrugged.

“What, Rick is going to be an important part of my life, the least I could do was introduce you two in a controlled manner, it’s not like you have to get along but a shake of hands and agreeing to stay out of each other’s way had been enough, or that Rick would.” She explained, it wasn’t strange, Rick guessed, her reasoning, but Daryl didn’t seem to agree on that thought.

“Hold up, t’fuck ‘re ye sayin’?” He said as his eyelids closer together, watching her with skepticism before he started to shake his head, the obvious tell that he’d already figured it out and he was far from okay with it.

“I already did, I invited him to dinner on Friday.” She openly stated, didn’t move an inch when he took a rash step toward her before pulling back again, she didn’t fear him in the least, it told Rick she knew he’d never actually hurt her even if his anger was boiling inside of him.

“Girl, respectin’ yer decision fer t’damn law, I’s fine agrein’ t’that, but hell ‘f I’mma let ye drag a pig into our home.” Rick looked between the two of them, Sophia holding her ground despite Daryl’s warning and bite strong words, which only led Rick to the conclusion, adding the obvious of Daryl never hurting her, that perhaps he’d be the one having to look under his bed before he went to sleep. Removing him was the easier solution to Daryl apparent problem. Sophia took a deep breath before she approached and he let her despite the jumpiness of his instincts that Rick could only read as; _proceed at own risk_ , he let her raise her hand and tap him in the back of his head before she pulled it down enough to give him a light peck on his forehead.

“Then I’m a pig now too and learning from Rick? I’ll be the best damn bacon you ever saw old man. Besides, you don’t even have to be home, now that you kind of already met so there’s that. Now get your ass to work.” Rick tried to keep himself steady still when that arm come into motion again, but rather than it reaching anywhere close to him, Daryl used the back of it to wipe over his nose. Then was the moment where Rick really needed to stand ground, being prepared for it this time, used to people dancing tightly with aggression and oddly finding a spot within himself to excuse the man for his actions after the obvious care the parent and child showed one another, it didn’t make the finger in his face more pleasant but he held the Dixon blue’s like he’d fight through hell and beyond.

“Ye fuckin’ take care ‘f ‘er, ye keep ‘er safe, ‘f anythin’ happens t’ her, I’ll know who’s at fault.” Rick listened, well, it was hard not to when it trickled every nerve of caution in his body. Compared to the warning tone the man had used with Sophia, this was on a completely different level and yeah, he would be hunted down if anything happened to her, that, he was sure of.

“Keeping us safe, is my job Mr. Dixon, but keeping us safe, is hers too.” Daryl’s lips twitched, his eyes darkened and he opened his mouth for a bite right back before he shut it again, stopping himself and the finger disappeared from his face.

“Work, go.” Sophia enthused. She didn’t get away from the clearly protective instinct of her dad without having to accept the plastic box of food before you could see him sulk through his gait alone, all the way to his bike further down the street. The rumble of it seemed to diffuse the onlookers on the other side, the typical kind of people that just had to stop and watch when something happened, which was, a rather peculiar need to have but regardless, it was there. He’d hard Sophia mutter “ _Meat and potatoes again, really?”_ And he caught her holding the box up with a twist to her lips looking through the transparent plastic.

“So.. your dad is a Dixon.” It was one hell of an awkward conversation starter after, well, knowing his life was now at risk outside of work as much as it was in work, not even sure if Dixon meant her cracking a nail would leave him with a broken leg. They had a good start, now though, there was that social standstill where you couldn’t actually tell.

“Depends.” She started and Rick didn’t think the social awkwardness could have been diffused so fast, but the one and simple word seemed to evaporate that notion, leaving room for an explanation and her openness to do so, using it as a tool to move Rick’s mind to thinking about that, rather than what just happened. Sophia Peletier may be sharper than he thought.

“Daryl was my mom’s closest friend when I was a kid, when she passed she’d made him my legal guardian and he’s been raising me since I was nine. Or I tried to raise him, he’s really.. well I think you got the gist of it.” She spoke warmly, smiling a little when use used the word _mom_ and tilted her head up when she added a little humor of questioning who was raising whom. Rick took a deep inhale and exhale, trying to find the proper aftermath of reaction to have after being physically pressured, threatened, processing a spat between two people who were clearly parent and child despite the words _guardian_ and _don’ call me that_ being flown around.

He wasn’t pissed off at the threat, didn’t hurt too bad either from the pinning, a little edge yes from having his adrenaline poked but, other than that, there wasn’t anything else that probably should have been there, other than what he felt taking one look at her face and finding the hesitation of uncertainty shading in her eyes. His supposedly good morning of excitement from his son coming home, getting his dad’s old bike back when he’d go to pick it up and attending the gathering at William’s with this rookie that had managed to give him a damn good first impression, had taken some damage but what did that matter, it would be one hell of a start he would never have expected, but also one he’d never forget.

“He’s done a fine job then and I’m still taking you up on that dinner, so make sure there’s a plate for me. Think we gotta work on your skills a little still though, we’ll enforce our first session in the car, maybe you can give him the basics of assaulting an officer. Common Peletier, I heard the order, time to get our asses to work.”


End file.
